Κυριακή, 21 Μαρτίου 2010

News

Fire Does Not Affect Bianchi Production

TREVIGLIO, Italy - Bike manufacturer Bianchi has been struck by a serious fire in one of its warehouses based in Telgate, Bergamo recently. Some 15,000 bikes were destroyed by the fire. Bianchi points out that the warehouse is based at another location than the factory in Tregilio.

“Our first action was to contact all of our customers and supplier/partners to inform them of the situation”, says Bob Ippolito, CEO of Bianchi. “Since our component inventory was not affected and we are continuing with production, we immediately set up a temporary warehouse to enable us to deliver bicycles to our customers in time before Christmas.”

“It is incredible how much support we have been receiving from both our suppliers and customers to work with us to reschedule supply and also delivery to customers”, continues Bob Ippolito. “From the first day on customers and suppliers offer their support. For example, within 3 hours of the news, Campagnolo contacted us with specific availability of components we could receive immediately.”

“With this cooperation and support, we are expecting to begin our recovery as early as January and February. Our supply and customer service teams are now in daily contact with all suppliers and customers to re-order and reschedule shipment of critical components and our customers are supporting us to allow us to delay delivery.”

Salvatore Grimaldi, owner of Bianchi S.p.a, extends its support to the Bianchi team which is committed to prepare and implement the recovery plan. “Fortunately we had no personal injuries and there is no effect to the historic Bianchi factory. We kindly ask our dealers to have patience and give Bianchi their support as we are preparing and implementing our recovery plan.”

Norwegian Continental team Joker Bianchi looks forward to the 2010 season with a young but talented squad that includes three newcomers. Since its beginnings in 2005, the squad has been successful in building up young riders that eventually reached the highest level of cycling. Amongst others, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Lars Petter Nordhaug (both Sky) and Alexander Kristoff (BMC) all came from the Joker Bianchi team when they started their pro careers.

In this way, the squad 'lost' three riders at the end of last season (Nordhaug, Kristoff and Frederik Wilmann, who left to to Skil-Shimano), and therefore had to sign new talent. "Norway has a strong tail wind when it comes to cycling these days, there are a lot of exciting names out there," said sports director Gino Van Oudenhove.

"We had been following the three new riders for a while, and have seen how they have developed in their former clubs or teams." Van Oudenhove chose Vegard Breen, Vegard Robinson Bugge and Christer Rake to join the squad, which still includes other strong riders.

Stian Remme and Christer Rake, for example, both represented Norway in the 2009 Worlds in Mendrisio, and Rake finished 12th at the U23 road race. Another important rider on the team is Svein Erik Vold, who adds experience and routine to the young outfit. "With the loss of radio communication in all cat. 2 races, Vold's role will be more central than before," continued Van Oudenhove, who was optimistic about the team's results this year.

"I have a really good feeling before the season start, and I really believe that we still will be able to be represented on the top of the overall classifications in major European stage races," he said.

The team will start the season in France and Belgium this year, not in Croatia as usual. "The Tour de Normandie is a very important race for us during the spring, and it was unfortunately not possible to combine Croatia and Normandie this season," added Van Oudenhove. The team's first race will be GP Lillers in France on March 7.